My first question since I read the past postings that the seamile card is isn't what it is cracked up to be, is...do the miles expire? I have a little over 30,000.

I did a little comparable shopping. I went to the seamiles website to "redeem" 25,000 seamiles on a cruise. Then I went to Carnival and 2 other cruise web sites and Carnival was the same price and I would have saved a mere $50 with one and $30 with the other. All for running $25,000 through the credit card company!

So, I went and rated travel reward and cash back credit cards. Chase has two credit cards that were rated very well and -0- annual fee.
They have a 5% cash back on groceries, gas and convenience type purchases. There is a $300 cap on this.

The second card is the new freedom card and you get 3% back on groceries, gas, and convenience items up to $600 spending per month (then 1% after that). and there is no cap on this card. This card can also be switched back and forth for travel rewards also.

Since I don't carry a balance, I don't have to worry about an interest rate, so I am going to use the 5% card til I max it out and then switch to the 3% card. Put the money in my vacation fund and it ends up being a better discount than the seamiles card.

Anyway, just another avenue for those looking to save a buck or two on their next cruise. I'm just not sure what to do with the 30,000 seamiles I already have.

Well, it might be alot of seamiles, but it's not worth much monetarily anyway. I'm just really glad that I found out when I did and not any later!!

It's really unfortunate that Carnival couldn't give us a something honorable and respectable to work towards with the Seamiles program. After all, Carnival is the name on the front of my credit card. It's a shame.